A Cat in Paris

Nominated for an Oscar, filmmakers Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol's French animated feature has been dubbed into English with a starry cast (but plays better with the original French soundtrack—also included). The title actually refers to two characters—honorable cat burglar Nico (voiced by Steve Blum) and his teammate, wayward feline Dino. But both are secondary to the story of the cat's owner, a sad, subdued little girl named Zoe (Lauren Weintraub), whose detective father was killed by a master criminal. Zoe's policewoman mother, Jeanne (Marcia Gay Harden), is intent on tracking down the villain. All of them—along with the kingpin's bumbling crew and Zoe's double-crossing nanny, Claudine (Anjelica Huston)—become involved in a heist that goes awry, leading to a splashy finale featuring chases over cranes and high-rise rooftops. While the animation is stylish—evoking a film noir look, and exhibiting clever touches, such as a sequence in the dark where the characters are white outlines against a black background—the plot is rather simple. Recommended, overall. (F. Swietek)